MATCH STORIES
Follow UsFielding was an area in which many thought India Women were lagging behind. Top teams like Australia not just have the bowlers and the batters do their jobs but save plenty of runs with their ground fielding and also by hanging on to catches. Their high standards have seen them reach highs that potentially no team can catch for years to come.
It slowly started changing for India too, especially since Amol Muzumdar took over as the head coach of the side. Since then, India have raised their bar when it comes to their intensity in their fielding, and the results was there for the world to see against Australia and England.
“We have clarity in our plans across the three departments. The work is ongoing in fielding to keep getting better because it is one department that is a game-changer," batter Jemimah Rodrigues had said ahead of the first Women's T20 International (WT20I) against South Africa in Chennai.
"Since Amol sir has come, we have been hearing the same thing in every team meeting — fitness and fielding are non-negotiable. And, it is something we have specifically been working on."
While Rodrigues has been the face of India’s much-improved fielding, on July 5 (Friday), she was let down by many of her teammates. As many as three chances went down – two of them being pretty straightforward. We also saw the likes of Pooja Vastrakar and Asha Sobhana unable to cut off reasonably simple fielding chances.
The result? Laura Wolvaardt, Tazmin Brits and Marizanne Kapp took full toll of that and pulled South Africa to an above-par 189. India eventually fell short by 12 runs.
South Africa registered their first win of the tour, but by no stretch of imagination was it a perfect game. India had a massive role to play in it. Things could have been different had Shreyanka Patil held on to a simple catch at backward point with Wolvaardt on 22 or had Smriti Mandhana held on to her chance at long-off with Kapp on 15.
If that was not enough, Richa dropped a regulation catch behind the wickets to give Brits a chance. She went on to hammer 31 runs from her next 15 deliveries. You grab on to any one of those opportunities and we could have had a very different result.
While their fielding let them down, their batting saved face. Mandhana looked to be in the mood with her stroke-filled 46 off 30 before Rodrigues (53*) and Harmanpreet Kaur (35*) stitched together a 90-run stand off 59 deliveries for the fifth wicket to give India hope.
Mind you, they walked in after India had lost wickets off consecutive deliveries with over 100 needed off the last 10. A well-set Brits batted deep to give her side a match-winning total. However, India did not have that luxury. Rodrigues and Harmanpreet had to start from scratch, and it was not a surface where one could get going from ball one.
They may have come close this time, but it may not be the case in the remaining games of the series. Luckily for India, they have some time to iron out the wrinkles, and there were plenty on display today. Before the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh, where the surfaces are expected to be slow and low-scoring, letting go of such chances could be the difference between winning the title and returning home empty-handed again.
Cutting off every single run, every boundary and taking every catch becomes all the more crucial.
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